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Unfortunately Caveat emptor on ebay.

Hi can you post a picture of the watch along with its caliber number, so that members may asses the situation. thanks/

well, of the 3 I've bought, 1 had a movement that has so far kept great time and been relatively bulletproof. 1 was missing movement spacer. 2 had dials glued down. 2 had hands in terrible condition. 2 were missing dial spacers. 2 movements had broken jewels. 2 had individual parts that didn't match the movement (7019 mainplate in a 7009, and 6319 barrel bridge in a 6309). All 3 had badly glued in, ill-fitting crystals. All 3 were not water resistant, to the point they would condense in the slightest humidity. All 3 had movements, dials, cases that were mismatched. All 3 had decent balances. I'd say it's a complete crapshoot, but you're not getting anything great. It's probably better to buy a job lot of 7009a movements and a nice aftermarket case and bracelet, spacers, and gaskets.

Buy one and find out If you pay very little and view it as buying for it's parts you'll be fine. But generally they are cobbled together, you'll find the case doesn't match the dial, and the dial is fake/had it's dial feet removed and glued down to the movement. Be full of grit and oil and you'll wonder how on earth it even ran.

Hi Jay looking at the press in the picture, it is quite good if ihas all the component parts it will be handy for glass fitting and case backs. Depending on the price paid its ok. seen worse on ebay with less dies. I would say you did not waste your money. cheers

Hah i've always hovered over that buy now button on a mumbai special thinking how bad can it be? Let me guess, the listing for this said it was running great and serviced by one of their master watchmakers? I've always wondered what if any value could be squeezed out of a mumbai special. Like are the cases EVER legit? Are they fake? Iv'e seen some sorta nice looking ones for 30 bucks and figured there has to be 30 bucks worth of good parts there. Maybe not haha. Best of luck with this.

I actually have a spare of this movement at home, but I won't be back there for another 10 hours. When I get back I'll try and remember to take a look at that second reduction wheel screw to confirm for you that it's defitely reverse threaded (it definitely should be).

Things are only worth what people are prepared to pay. Back in the early 90's I was buying musical instruments for peanuts that were out of fashion. A Mini Moog for £45, Prophet V and Oberheim OBX-a at £120 for both, an ARP 2600 for £300 plus lots of others such as Wurlitzer and Rhodes pianos for next to nothing. This was the equivalent of buying a Rolex sub during the quartz crisis for £30. 15 years later the youngsters had discovered the joys of these old instruments and their scarcity coupled with the popularity had propelled the prices into the stratosphere. Mini Moog - £4.5k, ARP 2600 £7k and so on. This also resulted in instruments that we wouldn't have touched with a bargepole back in the day realising stupid prices. A lot of hobby products have gone up significantly in price since lockdown with watches and watchmaking tools being no exception. I see people selling absolute tat on eBay but getting the money. 'Vintage' is the buzzword along with 'patina' that turns out to be more mould than Louis Pasteur's laboratory. I do wonder how long our hobby is sustainable with the ever increasing price of spares, donor watches and the ever increasing scarcity of certain parts.

Hi Karl. Not naive just you have standards and expect others to have the same. EBay opens up a can of worms with mis information and downright bad practise and dishonesty and it buyer beware, with eBay there are many honest dealers who trade with care and have a reputation to up keep. Then there are others who are just after your cash and it’s a lottery as to what you get,they should be called out and rightly so. Unfortunately my experience with the arbitration service they offer is not good even when supplied with the evidence. CAVEAT EMPTOR. BUYER BEWARE.

Another German watch on its way. Adora - Gemeinschaftsmarke - Adolf Rapp - Pforzheim, Deutschland. Those late sixties or early seventies looking digits give it a bit of a space age vibe. This one is a bit of a gamble, as there are no pictures of the caliber, but that is reflected in the price. Not quite a 404 club candidate, but not far off. It may have a German caliber, or perhaps a France Ebauches one. Some Adora watches even have Swiss calibers.

I once took issue with the phrase "like new". It seems like, on Ebay and elsewhere, the phrase "like new" became so common in its misuse that hardly anyone bats an eye at it now. The cognoscenti do not take it seriously; they ignore it and weigh other evidence. I believe we should not let "just serviced" become yet another of these stock phrases that people expect to see and yet pay no attention to. Such sellers need to be called out. Service history is valuable information to us. We need to know these things. That knowledge often affects our decision to buy or not to buy. I think if a seller states "like new" then the object should perform like a new one, have no fewer flaws or defects than a new one, etc. Or the seller should refund, and the review should spell out the discrepancy. Same with "just serviced". The seller should list the day that watch was serviced and by whom. If they can't do so, then I personally would make an offer much lower and explain that I will offer more if they can tell me all about how and when the watch was serviced. Some things should not be just stock phrases that sellers use, but don't really mean. I'd like a return to truth in advertising. But then, I am perhaps too naive to be shopping on Ebay.

That's the click. Goes here: For the record these are pretty much a skeletonised clone of a Seiko 7002 or similar. Here's a 7002 with the click installed for comparison: You've got to strip back to take off the barrel bridge in order to install it.

The Chinese 1000 machine does a very nice job even compared to the witschi machine. But like any timing machine they can be influenced by things. The problem isn't so much the timing machine the problem is the watch it's mechanical and typically not perfect. So if your power fluctuations through the gear train that will ripple through to the balance wheel and cause variations. Or if the signal is not nice and clean that that will cause issues. Or even things like moving the watch around the balance wheel takes time to stabilize 10 speed less of a problem in a modern high frequency watch.

Fantastic! And a very beautiful pocket watch! I've never serviced a non-shock movement, but I have seen how to go about it. How fiddly was it taking the cap jewels out/in?

Just remember it this way. Diashock = OK Diafix = Evil - especially these: